But a Rose would smell as sweet
by Honeybeehere
Summary: Poison Ivy created a daughter, a delicate flower she is not, she is a Rose, beautiful but could be deadly, well the thorns that she hides are. Jason becomes entranced in her, its tragic really. Can Batman and the second Robin extract this Rose from her toxic mother in an expert bit of gardening?
1. Chapter 1

Poison Ivy's greenhouse was not that of a normal Teflon covered half tube with a few scattered plants inhabiting it, it was a terrarium of life all twisting and shifting as they would with a breeze but in the absence of such atmospherics, it was the work of the femme fatal herself as her anticipation overflowed to the life around her. The Gotham sky dark and quiet as the delivery that would change their lives was eagerly awaited, so much so that the small posse of people passing through the large glass front doors were allowed to authorization without interference.

"Your Cadmus Pod, Ivy." Lex Luthor announced striding confidently into the greenhouse home of Poison Ivy. As usual he was dressed impeccably in a sharp suit and crisp white shirt, his bald head shining slightly in the glare of the overhead lights.

"Excellent. I have all I need now." Ivy said happily slinking over to the pod resting her green tinged hand onto the glass front.

"Are you sure that I can't persuade you to keep at least one of the genomorphs to help with the pod?" Lex said raising one perfectly manicured eyebrow. Ivy bristled.

How dare a man try to dictate to her in her own house what she should do.

"Perfectly sure, Luthor. It was enough to have to tolerate the imbeciles who are installing this device." She snapped looking back to her colleague of the light. He kept his expression flat as if he was not afraid of Ivy at all. She didn't like that. Not one bit, men in her opinion were to serve her and the ones responsible for the mess that the planet had become.

"Whatever you say Pamela." Lex said with a placating smile.

Ivy held in a growl. He was a useful person to have onside, to annoy him now would mean that he would work against her in the future and that was something that she really did not want.

Instead she bristled holding in her irritation, inadvertently making the flora around her twitch and prime ready to defend their mother.

"We have finished Mr Luthor, Sir." The technician said hesitantly, this new environment making him nervous.

"Perfect." He purred, "As always, a pleasure Ivy." He nodded to the woman in green then turned and led the technicians out of the greenhouse leaving the Doctor of Botany alone with her newest acquisition.

Ivy watched until they were well away then crossed to her work station, a patch of vines pulling back to display a finger long tube-like cryogenic device.

"One month, one month and I will be able to hold you my darling." She murmured scooping it up into her hand, an embryo held in the glowing green light visible but no bigger than the top half of Poison Ivy's thumb.

"Your my daughter, my legacy, my way of fighting back. None shall harm you and together we shall show the world. You and I, my beautiful Rose. My perfect thorn." Ivy crooned to the frozen blob of tissue and potential.

Ivy entered the tube into the Cadmus pod as she had been shown by the scientist's weeks prior and with a beaming grin stepped back to watch as the green light of her modified pod illuminated the twitching roots and boughs of the residents.

"One month." She said this time not to the creature in the pod but to herself, a mantra to which she could live by until the time was right.

She installed the special plant that would imbue her child with knowledge above the tank where the genomorph would have stood. She wanted this child to be all hers, to know what she knew, to be her reflection. Then she carried on with her latest plan, a gala for an oil company that needed to be disrupted. It was minor but it was low risk, now that she was growing her perfect Rose she didn't want to chance a stay inside and miss the key moment.

"Ivy's up to something." Nightwing declared one arm removed from his super suit. It had been a long patrol and one of the only ones that Bruce would let him do alone, but he was a senior damn it, he should be allowed more freedom.

Jason lay flat on his back in the centre of the training platform.

"What makes you say that?" He asked not moving from his current position sweat dripping from his forehead.

"She's been too quiet. It's been five weeks since the Oil Gala fiasco, and even that was minor." Dick said rationally, he'd pulled off his suit half way now leaving the front to lie limp across his thighs and the base of his body..

"That's it?" Jason laughed, "What do you think B?" He called out.

Bruce spun the large chair before the Bat computer round, his face pensive and brooding,

"I think you both did well tonight, some solid leads found." He said evasively. In truth he too thought it had been too quiet on Ivy's front of late and was sure that she was plotting something, but it was near dawn and the boys both had school in the morning.

"I will look into the Ivy hunch more tomorrow." He said, Dick opened his mouth to protest but closed it again as Bruce swung the chair back round effectively ending the conversation.

Dick growled and stomped off back up the metal staircase to the library ready for bed.

"Red." Harley cried excitedly bouncing on her toes. "Somethin' is happenin'"

The pod before her flushing from a soft green light to that of a harsh yellow. The body of a young girl inside twitching slightly, her hands curling and uncurling.

"Hold on!" Ivy shouted back to her friend. "I'm just starting the opening sequence."

Moments later the two women stood together before the pod excitedly apprehensive. Would the girl know who she was? Would she recognise them?

The chamber drained out the amniotic fluid leaving the body prone upright.

'Pftssssss.' It hissed, the door swinging open a fraction.

But that was enough for Ivy as she dashed forward to wrench the chamber door fully open.

Rose was pretty, her freckled skin a delicate shade of alabaster, her body proportioned as a girl of fourteen would be and her hair a beautiful auburn darkened and falling to her middle back drenched in the fluid.

"My Rose, my flower, can you hear me?" Ivy asked her right hand gently settling on the left cheek of her daughter.

"She's awful gooey Red. She gonna be okay?" Harley asked from a few feet away.

Rose gave a cough spitting out the last of the fluid, lurching forward into her mother's arms.

Eyelids heavily fluttered open, emerald eyes suddenly confronting the world. Rose took in the smiling woman in front of her, all soft skin and shades of green and red.

"Mama?" She ventured. Poison Ivy laughed nodding.

"Yes, yes, I'm Mama." She said happily pulling her daughter into her arms.

Over her mother's shoulder Rose took in her surroundings, the green lights, the vines and plants, the lightening sky and Harley.

Home.

"I'm your Aunty Harley!" Harley waved, her pale face split into a huge grin.

"Hel-hello." Rose said carefully testing her voice for the first time consciously.

Ivy pulled back from her daughter, not fazed by the viscous fluid that formed strings between them.

"We should get you cleaned up. Come on." Ivy stepped back away from the pod allowing Rose to tentatively, still holding the arm of her mother, step out of the chamber into the crisp air of the greenhouse, the smell of compost hitting her nose.

Ivy led her to the bathroom of the Botanical house and handed her daughter a pretty sundress of soft cotton and under things.

"We will be just out here." Ivy assured her with a smile. Ivy brushed her palm lightly over the back of her new child's head.

She returned to her companion leaving Rose to clean herself off.

"So, how much does she know Red?" Harley asked, she had taken a seat on the organic couch in Ivy's lab waiting for her friend to return.

"She knows up to high school level in education and everything that I do." Ivy answered proudly. She crossed to the chamber and pulled off the plant she had designed for the education of her daughter.

"Right." Harley drew out. "Does she know about Mr J and the Bats?" Ivy nodded,

"She looks like me do you not think?" Ivy said happily, looking back to the bathroom door.

"Yeah spitting image. Look, Red, I'm happy for ya, I am. But I just think that maybe having a brat about isn't the best idea." Harley reasoned.

Ivy scowled at her companion.

"It's not? If the Justice fools can have children then I want one too." Ivy spat back setting the plant onto the lab table.

"So she is actually your daughter then? Not just a clone. You've told me next to nothing about the sprog Red."

"She's my daughter, mine and the heir Francis Black." Ivy said shrugging. She turned her attention to the computer; she had taken all her scientific notes on the machine during the rapid growth of her daughter.

"Black?! Seriously!" Harley exclaimed, Francis Black had just come to own one of the largest corporations in the world, he was worth billions, and was old Gotham money, not as old as the Wayne's or the Elliot's but old.

"He was handsome, and upon closer inspection his DNA seemed to be a good fit for mine so I seduced him." Ivy said calmly reasoning away her creation of the man's child.

"You gonna tell her she got a Daddy?" Harley asked.

"Nope. Not unless she asks."

"What about school?" Harley prodded getting up to move closer to her friend,

"What about it?"

"Well ya gonna send her there or not?" Harley asked impatiently. Ivy paused in her note taking and looked at the clown.

Ivy sighed,

"Yes, school would free up a lot of time in childcare. Gotham Academy, if she is to go I want her positioned to do the most damage." Ivy decided, Harley laughed.

"Good plan Red."

Any reply Ivy was about to say died in her throat as the bathroom door opened.

Rose watched as the goopy fluid circled the plug hole then vanished.

She was born, she was in existence. She felt that she was fourteen, she had the knowledge of a fourteen year old and higher, but she had no memories, only green.

This was her first day, her first day with memories. She knew how to read and how to write but had never been taught, she just knew it.

"My name is Rose." She said to herself. The spray of water disguising her voice.

She turned the tap off and stepped out of the bathtub, she was still uncertain on her feet having not used them before. Quickly she dressed in the clothes she was given, her new body chilling rapidly in the dawn air.

Rose went to open the door to the now wet bathroom but froze hearing voices.

"So she is actually your daughter then? Not just a clone. You've told me next to nothing about the sprog Red." She heard Harley say,

'_Stay here, they may not say anything if you go out now._'

Rose's hand rested on the door knob,

"She's my daughter, mine and the heir Francis Black."

_Who is Francis Black? _She thought to herself. She couldn't hear much after that,

"You gonna tell her she got a Daddy?" Harley asked. Rose heard that for definite.

"Nope. Not unless she asks." Ivy said.

Rose stepped back from the door in shock. Her mother would keep things from her. She had no memories to base her reaction off of but the betrayal struck her right between her ribs.

Barely an hour old and she was being hidden and kept from view.

_I will not be lied to. _She told herself squaring her shoulders before marching over to the door and pulling it open.

High school sucks.

It sucks even more if you have three hours sleep and spend the evening swinging from rooftop to rooftop.

Jason groaned. Sophomore year was going to be the same as the rest it seemed. It wasn't that Jason disliked the work, he loved it, really, it interested and stretched him and he liked the challenge, what he didn't like however were the people. The bratty spoiled rich kids and their backstabbing competitive ways. He would never fit with them, with their disgusted looks and sneers. Even now weeks into the term and he still could not reconcile with their name calling and the sheer otherness that they presented, for the kid to have been brought up in the Narrows before being adopted, the privilege of this environment still shocked him.

"C'mon replacement." Dick said clapping Jason on the shoulder knocking him forward slightly.

"I don't see why we can't just have a tutor." Jason grumbled. Dick laughed; waving to a guy he was on good terms with,

"Buck up and shut up Jason, it's not forever." Dick said walking off to his friend leaving Jason stood alone in the gates.

Rose was nervous. So nervous she felt sick. She had done nothing like this before, school, it was a foreign concept to her. She was excited too but Harley hadn't exactly been glowing in her retelling of her school days.

Still she clutched her black backpack to her as she stood in the gates looking at the imposing building, like everything in Gotham it was of Gothic design and the dark stone building inspired a sense of dread in her.

Rose turned her head and spied the dark haired boy about her age, his face down cast and shoulder slumped slightly as if to make himself slightly smaller.

_Find someone, a boy, smile at him and ask for help. Your gifts will tie him to you, don't worry_. Her mother's voice floated through her head at the sight of this boy.

"Hey." Rose called over, the boy looked up shocked. Rose smiled at him, her face glowing prettily.

"Me?" He sought clarification pointing at himself. Rose nodded.

Sucking in his lower lip Jason made his way over stopping a couple feet from her.

"Hi. I'm Rose, it's my first day." She greeted a warm feeling filling her at the sight of his blush.

"Urm, I'm Jason, Jason Todd." He smiled back, "It's definitely not my first day."

Rose giggled a little,

"You need help knowing where to go?" He offered stepping into the school grounds, Rose nodded and followed him.

"So, you got a last name Rosie?" He asked his accent slipping through a little, just enough to remind Rose of Aunty Harley.

"Yeah, Isley." She said happily. Jason stopped short and fixed her with a look she didn't recognise.

"Poison Ivy? Pamela Isley? She's your mother?" Jason deadpanned.

"Yes, is that a problem?" Rose asked moving into his space a little. She had been alive about a week and had watched her mother and Aunt move, absorbing their manipulation tricks.

"I think you may become very popular or very unpopular, it depends." He said confusing her more.

"Okay." She said slowly, "You'll still help me won't you?" She batted her eyelids a little at the slightly taller boy.

"Sure, come on." Jason said nodding to her to follow him.

Rose trailed after him to the office and registered for her classes, all the same as Jason, and then followed him to their first period.

Jason threw himself into a random seat in AP English not thinking about the girl he had promised to help. Rose stood awkwardly by the desk, spying an empty one over the other side of the classroom.

Jason looked up at the pretty girl sympathetically, nobody around them would move not for a new kid and not this late in the term.

Reluctantly she left his side to take the empty seat.

"Who are you?"

Rose looked up from stashing her bag into the expectant but scowling eyes of a blonde girl seated at the desk in front of her.

"Rose Isley." Rose said with a tight smile. She waited for the recognition that came with everyone else when they heard her last name. The office receptionist being particularly harsh with her disgusted look.

"Right, I'm Gretchen Mathews, Gretty." She introduced. "You don't have to follow gutter trash around all day you know, you can be with us." Gretty gestured to the girls surrounding Rose, they were pretty and manicured, they seemed to be the IN crowd.

"Thank you. Why do you call him gutter trash?" Rose asked politely. She glanced over to Jason, his fists clenched below the desk, he was listening and the girls knew it.

"Because he is." The brown haired girl giggled next to her. Gretty laughed,

"Hey, Gutter Trash. We've stolen your girlfriend." Gretty called over.

"Fuck you Mathews." Jason shot back his accent really bleeding in the profanity sparking imitations and giggles in the girls.

Rose watched it all happen and did nothing.

The chatter only fell when the tall teacher walked in with a towering set of books.

"Austin week, take a copy, there is one for each of you; we will be looking at Pride and Prejudice. No arguments." They announced.

And like that her first day had begun in earnest. She stayed with the girls and became adopted into their little clique even if she didn't know what they were talking about half the time.

Jason didn't see Rose again until two days later when they were in the library together.

"How did you lose the girl brigade?" Jason asked bitterly pulling out a seat next to Rose from the library desk populated only by her.

"They have gone shopping. I decided to get some work done in the free period." Rose answered sweetly. He made her nervous slightly. She didn't know why but resolved to ask her mother about it.

"Ahh right." Jason said pulling out a large book, the Count of Monty Christo and ruffling his thick dark hair, it was cropped short on the sides but left longer on the top and it flopped slightly forward over his forehead reminiscent of an 80s TV character.

"What are you working on?" He asked after a minute of them sat in silence.

"I'm trying to find someone. Francis Black." Rose answered quietly after a moment of consideration.

"I know him; he's a friend of Bruce's. Bit of a douche if you ask me. Why? What do you want with him?" Jason said quickly.

Rose looked back to her computer screen.

"Mama said he could be my father." Rose replied quietly. If Jason was shocked he didn't show it. In fact he just nodded and pulled out his phone.

He liked Rose, he really did, something about her made him want to protect and cherish her but he had to tell this to Bruce now. He had kept the information of Ivy's daughter from his adopted father and brother for long enough.

To Bruce, From Jason

[Got a girl in my class called Rose Isley, said Pamela is her mother and Francis Black is her father. Might be worth looking into.]

He sent the message and not thirty seconds later he got a reply.

To Jason, From Bruce.

[Keep with her. I'll pick you two up, if she is Ivy's daughter we should proceed with extreme caution.]

Jason turned to Rose,

"You can come to my place tonight if you wanna, could talk to B about your Pa."

Rose frowned but nodded.

"That's kind of you, thank you."

They fell back into silence. It seemed to build until neither one could bare it.

"Hey, look I'm sorry about the names they call you." Rose finally ventured.

Jason shrugged,

"It's fine." He said nonchalantly. Rose shook her head,

"No, it's not. I tried to get them to stop but they accused me of having a crush on you." She said blushing a little at the end.

"You know, you are nothing like your mother." Jason murmured. This confused Rose.

"How do you know what my mother is like?" She prompted.

Jason's eyes widened as he realised his error.

"News reports." He answered quickly trying to school his face back into neutrality.

Rose hummed but did not seem convinced.


	2. Chapter 2

Francis Black had known Bruce Wayne for years; they had both gone to school together. That was before and for a short time after his parent's deaths that is. They kept in touch as Bruce was home schooled and eventually dropped off the grid for a while. That man came back different but Francis invited him for drinks and the two picked up their relationship as it had always been. Friendly.

So now as Francis observed the heir to the Wayne legacy sprawled in the stylish chair on the other side of his desk, he did not suspect that the Dark Knight was really there to interrogate him.

"Frank, my man, how've you been keeping?" Bruce said cheerily. His signature smirk plastered over his face.

Francis smiled back, Bruce was the only one to call him Frank, he insisted that everyone else call him by Francis, properly.

"I'm good. Company is doing well, got a girl on my arm now too." Francis preened; part of him had always tried to compete with Bruce on a little subconscious level. They were both tall men, both attractive facially with fit bodies and good diets. However the main difference was the eyes, while Bruce had warm blue eyes Francis had black, they looked almost like he had no irises just pupil. It often meant that Francis was the second choice for the ladies they hit on, that and Bruce could buy him out twice.

"Yeah? Faith Ryker. I saw it in the society pages of the Gazette; I've got to say she's very pretty." Bruce said with a laugh.

Francis sighed,

"You're not going to try and take her away from me like you did the other one? Are you?"

Bruce laughed shaking his head,

"No, no. Besides that was a test that she most clearly failed. I was doing it for you Frank!" Bruce insisted. Francis raised an eyebrow at his oldest friend.

"But seriously, come on, you think this is the one?" Bruce said seriously, calming down quickly.

Francis looked at the photo he had on his desk, a silver frame housing him and a beautiful blonde woman smiling in a park.

"Yeah, I do." He sighed.

Bruce paused for a heavy moment.

"She know about you and Poison Ivy?" He ventured. Francis's eyes shot to Bruce.

"How do you know about that?!" Francis demanded. Bruce held his hands up in surrender.

"Oh yeah, your _other_ friend." Francis sneered,

"Look, he was just interested in if there was anything further. You employ a lot of people, he didn't want to see you derailed for no reason." Bruce reasoned adjusting his cuff and cufflinks, they had been a special father's day gift from his boys.

Francis didn't miss the action.

"How're your boys?" He asked effectively changing the subject.

Bruce's head flopped back onto the top of the bucket like chair.

"I love them. I do. But last night they had a fist fight over who got to put the DVD into the player."

Francis laughed, not realising that that was a _version_ of the truth.

In actuality, the boys had fought over who got to log the evidence against Two-Face into the Batcomputer, both wanting to be the first into the shower and bed.

"They sound like a handful." Francis laughed, Bruce grinned back at him.

"Sure they are, but I don't regret giving them a home. Would you ever have kids?" Bruce replied,

Francis shrugged,

"Sure, don't know if I could do the whole teenage thing like you did though." Francis said looking back again to the picture of his girlfriend.

"Nah, teens are easy, you just feed them, make sure they wash and go to school. They're like miniature adults with reasoning skills. The most difficult bit is the whole sex thing."

"Oh I can imagine." Francis agreed. Bruce smirked, he nearly had him.

"So, if hypothetically, a woman turned up and announced that she had your child and you needed to be responsible for it what would you do?"

"DNA testing." Francis shot back immediately, "After that, if it is mine then great, I'll pay for it. Why do you ask?"

Bruce shrugged,

"I think I may have a few scattered, you just don't know though. I mean look at Ollie Queen. He comes back after five years missing and, boom, woman claiming to have his child."

It wasn't quite what he was hoping for but it was a start. If he was going to get Rose into a secure home and out of danger he was going to need to work on Francis.

"What a nightmare, Ollie really was never much one for kids if I remember rightly." Francis grimaced.

"That's right," Bruce pointed at his friend, "You went to college with him!"

"Yep, Princeton all the way!" Francis pumped his fist in the air laughing with Bruce.

"Good times." He shook his head, "Are we still on for drinks tomorrow night? That new place downtown looks good, the Botanist?"

Bruce raised his eyebrows, that was Ivy's territory. He suspected that Francis had never fully let go of the idea that if he hung round in her territory for long enough she would notice him again. Even if he did claim to be enamoured with a society girl.

"Playing with fire there aren't we?" He mocked causing Francis to blush.

"So?" Jason prompted, "Did you talk to him?"

Bruce hadn't even taken a bite of his meal yet before his youngest adopted son was on him for answers.

"I did, he seems open to the idea." Bruce answered calmly eating a forkful of pasta. It was heavenly; he really would have to tell Alfred to make this again.

"Then we will have to go tonight! Rose isn't safe there Bruce!" Jason insisted. Bruce had never seen the boy quite so animated about a case before, usually he was excited but it was more about the thrill of the chase rather than the end result.

"Nobody is going anywhere Master Jason until you have eaten your meal and done your homework." Alfred's cool English accent announced from by the door where he was stood. He was basically family but still refused to eat with them citing it was not proper.

Jason flopped back into his seat pouting.

"This girl seems to have gotten under your skin Master Jason. Are you quite sure she's not like her mother?" Alfred prompted.

Jason's head snapped up to look at him. A fire burned in his eyes, not just anger left over from the streets but a passion so rarely seen in young men.

"She is nothing like that witch. Rose is good and kind and gentle." Jason said gripping his fork tightly. "She got them to stop with the names." Jason said a little more quietly to his pasta, his frown splitting open a cut on his right eyebrow again, a small drop of crimson blood spilling forward.

Bruce was shocked by this but only a little. It had been four months now, a third of a year he had known about Poison Ivy's daughter and the time had been filled with other missions from the League and the Team, not to mention the Joker was back out again. But he had noticed an improvement in Jason with regards to school. The boy had always adored going to school, learning new things, it challenged him, excited him. But then in High School it had started to fade. Bruce had suspected the other children because Jason still took to information like a sponge and was a keen reader but the urge to go had vanished. Then four months ago it had returned with a vengeance. To say it wasn't because of Rose would be foolish. Especially as the boy was back to practically shoving everyone out of the door in order to get to School faster.

"Did she really?" Bruce said nodding. They were eating at the large dinner table at the end by the kitchen. A bit much for a Wednesday night perhaps but Alfred was deep cleaning the kitchen and so they had been established elsewhere. Dick had seized his opportunity and was spending the night at the cave.

"She is nice." Jason insisted again. Bruce just nodded convinced.

They didn't end up going for Rose that night as a call came in from the Justice League about wildfires that they called in everyone for, even the team.

"Just keep your focus. Breathe, feel the plant as an extension of yourself and it will do as you command." Ivy crooned from a little way off watching as her daughter practiced botanokinesis and not for the first time.

Rose had presented with the same powers as her mother just a few weeks after being 'born' from her pod.

The greenhouse came to life around the pair as they stood watching a large vine twist and grow at Rose's behest.

"Well done my Rose! Well done! Soon we shall combine our abilities and reclaim the world for the plants. We will combat pollution and end mankind's tyranny of the natural world." Ivy buzzed clasping her daughter's shoulders tightly.

Rose could only feel the sinking feeling inn her stomach. She wasn't really sure that she wanted to take over the world, or watch mankind suffer. The parts of mankind that she had seen were nice. Sure they could be wasteful but Rose didn't think that warranted annihilation. When her mother spoke like this all that she could think of was her friends, Gretty and Rachel laughing at milkshake coming out of Marie's nose or Jason's smile, his steel blue eyes warm and friendly, and what would happen to them if her mother was allowed to continue on with her plan.

'I can't let this continue. I love my mother and Aunty Harley, I really do but they have the wrong idea. People don't deserve to die because of a couple of recycling mistakes.' Rose thought to herself as she smiled up at the green face of her mother.

'I'll talk to Jason tomorrow.' She resolved as she took herself off to bed later that night. 'Everyone knows Bruce knows Batman. Maybe he can help.'

"C'mon, c'mon, where are you?" Jason muttered craning his neck to see over the incoming flood of Gotham Academy students to try and see Rose. Guilt had been gnawing away at his insides all night and he had barely slept. Members of the team had even asked Dick why he was so angry to be on a humanitarian mission last night.

Then he saw her, and the world stopped for just a second, her auburn hair moving slightly in the breeze, and her pretty face focused on where she was walking. A small frown was colouring her face until she looked up into the eyes of her friend.

He was there; he was waiting at the gate. A rush of relief flooded through her at the sight of him. Rose could have cried at the sight of the five foot eleven young man.

"Hey, I need to talk to you." She greeted.

Jason's face began to fall slightly, his handsome features morphing into that of a frown pulling on his cut eyebrow.

"Sure. Let's go." Jason took her hand and led her into the school grounds. He knew just where to go, the place he would go for a smoke, the bike racks. It was heavily wooded and concealed from the school.

Rose let herself be led by him, her right hand comfortably fitting into his left, a good warm grip that made her feel safe.

"So, go on." Jason prompted pulling out a box of Marlboros from his coat pocket and a light. Rose watched him put the white stick in his mouth, light it and take a puff seeing it visibly relax him.

"You know my Mama, right?" Rose began, Jason nodded,

"The crazy plant lady, yeah, I've heard of her."

"Well, she plans to use me. To combine our powers and have us work together to take over the city and the world." She finished with a grimace.

Jason didn't speak for a moment, instead sucking in the smoke and slowly exhaling it.

"You don't want to?" He asked, Rose shook her head no.

"Okay, do you feel safe there?" He asked next. Rose thought about it for a moment, she was sure that her mother wouldn't hurt her but to be a tool in her plans seemed to be the reason why she was created. It also seemed that this wasn't the first time that Jason was having thins conversation.

"I don't know if she will hurt me, I don't doubt that she loves me but the mission seems bigger than me, like she only created me for this reason." Rose said to the ground. Jason nodded by her side, he didn't know what to say to Rose, it was all so alien to him, talking a serial killers daughter away from her mother. He reached for her shoulder and pulled her to him, Rose went willingly. Folding her body into his chest as his strong arms circled her.

"Bruce knows Batman right?" Rose said after a minute.

Jason let her go to look in her eyes,

"Yeah, and I know Robin." He looked into her green eyes shining with tears, "You want his help?"

"Is that so bad? To want my mother caught so that I don't have to be a tool in her games?"

"No Rose it's not. It's normal." Jason assured, the cigarette held in his lips as he rubbed her arms.

"What will happen to me after she's taken? Would I have to live with Harley and Mr J? Could you contact my father? Is he even a good man?" Rose blurted, her worries spilling over.

"Hey, hey, shhh." Jason consoled her, "We can take you in until you get to be with your father Rosie; I ain't gonna let nothin' hurt you." His accent pushing through with the emotion behind his words.

Rose didn't say anything but bury her face into his chest.

"You can't go in like this petal, so, why don't we take the day, go to see Bruce." Jason proposed with a smile. He stepped back from the girl in his arms and pulled the burning stick from his mouth.

Rose nodded and took his hand again,

"They've locked the gates, I could see if I can lift us over the walls?" She proposed, she had gotten good at the plant control recently.

"You can do the things your mother does?" Jason asked shocked. Rose smiled wetly at him,

"Yeah, some. Apparently the rest is going to come with time." She shrugged. Jason smiled a half smile at her,

"Cool." He said. Rose focussed and a root sprung from the earth wrapping itself around Jason gently and lifted him over the high brick walls. When she heard laughter she had it release the boy and come back for her.

Bruce had just settled into his office with a coffee and the latest financial reports when the buzzer on his desk sounded.

With a sigh he set down the papers and pressed the talk button.

"Susie, I told you I am not to be disturbed." He said stiffly. Then he looked up, his youngest son was holding hands with a very pretty red headed young girl. This was going to be important.

"I'm sorry Mr Wayne." His assistant said guiltily, Bruce sighed again,

"No it's fine Susie. This may be important." He waved his son in and it did not escape his notice that his son squeezed the girls hand before leading them through the glass doors into the office.

"You should be in school." He said by way of a greeting.

Jason didn't reply just walked round to the other side of the desk and reaching under the desk flicked the switch to privatise the room. It made the room sound proof and tinted the glass so the onlookers outside couldn't see in.

"This is important." Jason said calmly. Bruce nodded his eyebrows raised,

"You should still be in school." Bruce replied.

Jason reached into his bag and withdrew a black box, Bruce knew what this box did, what it meant. It meant that they were talking in Batman and Robin terms.

Jason flicked it on and set it on the desk before Bruce.

"Alright." Bruce nodded once, "Go ahead."

"We need to get Rose to her Dad tonight. Today if possible."

"We don't have the data for him to accept her as his." Bruce countered,

"You have a full med lab downstairs; we can do a test now! Call him, get him here." Jason nearly growled.

Rose watched the exchange from by the door. She felt so alone, a leaf cast adrift in a hurricane. How could she betray her mother like this? To turn her back on everything that she knew, all she was.

But what Rose was not aware of was that her sanity was assured by her father's genetics, if she had been a normal clone of her mother then she would be on board, all the way, let's kill them all on board. But Francis Black had lent her more than just a few freckles. He had made her a different person to her mother. Sure Ivy had influenced her with the inception plant but through going to school and socialising with her peers she was able to form the beginnings of an identity in which she questioned the morality of her mother's decisions.

"If I call him you will not fight me about certain decisions?" Bruce asked, Jason nodded solemnly.

"I won't even question them." Jason promised. He looked back to Rose and held out his hand.

He was holding out his hand to her but instead she hurried to his side curling into his body. Jason's arm slung around her shoulder.

"Well, Miss Isley it seems as you have made a rather large impression on my ward." Bruce said his eyes shining with kindness.

Bruce reached for his phone resting it on his ear, his hand hovering over the number pad.

"Go and sit outside, get her a drink Jason." Bruce said keying in the numbers.

Jason did as ordered and guided Rose to the pristine corridor flicking off privacy mode as he went.

"Frank! Buddy, you better get over here my good man, there is a little surprise for you." Bruce said watching them leave.

"Oh yeah Wayne? I remember the last time I fell for that." Francis said unimpressed. "My stock dropped six points."

"I promise you, you will want to be here, a girl is here claiming you to be her father. Poison Ivy is her mother." Bruce said. He was met with silence.

"Frank?"

"Six! She would be six!" Frank exclaimed loudly, "Fuck! Okay, I'm on my way. You have tests at your building right?"

"A whole med lab." Bruce assured relieved that his friend was good enough to step up for the girl.

Francis strode into the building with purpose, had a tense wait in the elevator then powered to Bruce's office.

Only to stop short at the spitting image of Poison Ivy.

"Bruce!" He called not saying anything to the girl or the dark haired boy next to her both dressed in Gotham Academy uniforms.

The dark knight stood as Francis Black pushed his way into his office, a fire in his eyes.

"Six! That girl is not six!" He exploded,

"Actually I am." Rose said, she had quietly followed the man into the office, Jason at her back.

"How?!" Francis demanded,

"I was an embryo until four months ago then I was force grown to this age in a birthing chamber." Rose explained. Jason was stood so close that she could feel the heat from his body on her back.

Francis said nothing but sat heavily in one of the chairs by Bruce's desk.

"So you're my daughter?" He asked, Rose nodded.

"We have her blood sample, we just need yours." Bruce said calmly. He had a small med kit open on his desk a vile of yellow blood a mix of green and red making it form a mustard colour.

"Oh, yes, yes. Take it." He said ripping off his jacket and rolling up his sleeve forcefully. Bruce carefully drew the other man's blood. Francis was not taking his eyes off of Rose who had come fully into the office and was stood by Jason's side between the desk and the large windows looking out to the city.

"So your mother… did she tell you of me?"

"No, I overheard it and asked Jason about you. I figured that a billionaire's adopted son would know a bit about you."

Francis laughed,

"You just sounded exactly like my mother then. I can see her in the eyes too." He leant forward in the chair around Bruce, "Maybe you are my kid, who knows. I'm a little young to be a dad though."

Bruce looked at him flatly.

"Oh come on Bruce, you know what I mean. I'm thirty five same as you."

Bruce said nothing just withdrew the vile and needle and packaged up the test with a practiced ease.

"I'll run this downstairs, Jason you stay with Rose and her Father." He directed leaving the office with the clear bag of both bloods.

It was an awkward wait, Francis trying to make conversation with the two teens and all conversations dying pretty quickly.

Eventually Bruce came back with a spectral analysis of both bloods.

"She's yours Frank." Bruce said entering the room again half an hour later.

The other man paled slightly, but nodded taking in the information.

"Hey, do those results say anything about why Rosie's blood is yellow?" Jason asked curiosity getting the better of him.

"Yeah, actually it's because her blood is a mixture of Iron base and Nitrogen base, they suspect that you have the ability to survive like both a plant and a human.

Francis looked up then taking in his daughter for the first time properly. She was his. His responsibility, this precious girl, his to keep safe, to raise. To help form into a woman who could defend herself.

"I guess, if you want to, you could come and live with me?" He ventured.

"We think that's best Mr Black." Jason answered for her. His sturdy presence a pillar for which she leant on for support.

"Thank you." Rose said to the room, these men who had dropped everything in one morning to help her figure out her next steps, to figuratively air lift her out of her life and into a new one, into a better one. It went against everything that her mother had taught her about men and mankind, all that Poison Ivy had to say about man was that they were greedy and cruel but that simply was not the case for all of them.

Rose had a lot to learn about the right side of sanity. The right side of the world.


End file.
